A Lovely Prayer Shawl

Last summer, Janet Bristow and Victoria Cole-Galo (of the Prayer Shawl Ministry) were looking for unpublished crochet patterns for their new prayer shawl book. There would be no payment, but it was for a good cause, so I thought, “Why not?”

I had never crocheted a prayer shawl before, so I asked them for a suggested size, then thought, “What motif would be appropriate for a shawl that’s lovingly made, then gifted to someone in need?” For me, the obvious answer was, “Hearts.”

I also thought a lot about the flat format – one that would be relatively easy to tapestry crochet. Instead of crocheting in a continuous spiral (my usual), this was crocheted in concentric rectangles with a “join” at the beginning and end of each round. The join created a line (seen on the right side of the short side of the shawl pictured below).

Tapestry crocheted Heart-to-Heart Tapestry Shawl

Since it was crocheted from the center outwards, the hearts were crocheted upside-down. They would also have worked right-side-up, but I already crocheted Have a Heart Scarf that way and wanted to try something different.

This project was really “meant to be” because I had just enough raspberry and ivory Mod Dea washable wool left over from an earlier project. Unlike regular wool, which can shrink and felt during washing, this easy-to-care-for Merino can be thrown into the washing machine without worry because it’s been pre-shrunk. The loose stitch allows the carried yarn to peek through and gives the fabric wonderful drape.

I never heard that my submission would be included in the book – but figured it out when a friend told me that she made sure the shawl was arranged with the front side up at the photo shoot. Since the carried yarn does not show on the back, it’s often difficult to tell the “right side,” so photographs of some of my previous projects featured the reverse side instead of the front.

I was really thrilled when the book arrived the other day because it’s so beautifully done. Hopefully, you’ll also be inspired to crochet a shawl for someone who would really appreciate a gift from the heart – be it one of the 37 shawls from this book or another pattern.

5 Responses to “A Lovely Prayer Shawl”

Hi Carol! My sister in law Nancy is having her knees replaced sometimes soon. Her original date was for the 14th of February, so my natural inclination was to look for a crocheted heart motif. This pattern came up and I discovered it was in the above book and so bought it solely for your pattern.

However, I’m having a really hard time with it! I’ve now frogged it twice 😛 The first time I could see it was going awry after a couple-three rounds of the pattern portion. The second time, I was well into the bottom portions of the heart when I noticed that some of the hearts were askew.

Are there any errata for this pattern? I noticed in round 7, the one side of the shawl is not patterned the same as the other (as with other rounds). It goes from (1cc in 5 stitches 1mc in nest stitch) to 1 cc into the net 4 sts and 1 mc into the next 2 sts) in the same round on the other side of the shawl. Wouldn’t it be the same on both sides?

All the rest of the rounds seem to have the same instructions for both sides.

Other than that one thing, I’m guessing it’s just me and my inexperience both with crochet and tapestry crochet. I’ve only been at it since the beginning of Dec 2010. (I’m CatsMousehold on Ravelry too).

Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry about my mistake! The repeats for both sides of the round should be the same, so the second half of round 7 should be: “1 CC into the next 5 stitches, 1 MC into the next stitch.” Unfortunately, the numbers were left off the heart graph, but you can pencil them in and see how the heart should look on each round. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll notify Janet and Victoria about the mistake. I hope that the shawl and the operation turn out wonderful!

Hello Carol. The graph drove me crazy. Does not look at all like a hear at the top. Thanks for explaining! Also, it would have helped to know we start at the center.
I love the pattern and wish to make for a graduation gift for a granddaughter soon leaving high school behind and trekking off to college. I have unraveled 5 times! Stitch count is a major issue. Another is my question about the chain 2 to begin each row. Since we are doing single crochet, wouldn’t this require only a chain 1? Seems like bulges left behind with the ch 2. It is perfectly beautiful and i am doing well with the tapestry part – stunning. I will persist!